Arts & Events

For San Francisco Opera’s performance on June 29 of Verdi’s Don Carlo, veteran bass Ferruccio Furlanetto replaced René Pape as King Philip II of Spain. Furlanetto first sang this role in 1986 at Salzburg, and I have a VHS video of that performance, which launched Furlanetto as a major interpreter of that role. Now, at age 67, Furlanetto sings just as magnificently as he did thirty years earlier. Indeed, he is generally acclaimed as the greatest Philip II of the current generation. -more-

Last weekend I went to a show more or less off-the-cuff, at the behest of a friend who wanted me to see a production of 'King Lear' by a small company I'd never heard of with a funny name--Ninjaz of Drama.

'Lear' is, of course, a tough classic to pull off, to communicate whole, as a living, breathing work of art. I can count on one hand the productions I've seen where the whole play came through, not just great scenes or performances, and all of them were by professional companies, or companies dominated by professional actors.

(One of the most promising versions I've ever gone to, at the Old Vic with a famous director and first-rate cast, bogged down by the storm scene and proceeded to break apart into just that--scenes and individual performances of greater and lesser worth.)

So it was one of those delightful surprises that make everything else worthwhile to watch the Ninjaz bring off one of the clearest, most articulate performances of 'Lear' in terms of story and detail I've seen. With the fine direction of San Francisco native Rey Carolino (who also played several minor roles) and excellent script editing of David Abad, the actors of various degrees of stage experience became an ensemble dedicated to the exposition of this thematically complex, emotionally difficult masterpiece. -more-

On Sunday, June 26, at 3:00 in the afternoon, with all the pandemonium of Gay Pride celebrations going on outside in the Civic Center, the Cypress String Quartet performed their Farewell Concert in the newly opened Taube Atrium Theatre of San Francisco’s War Memorial Building. After twenty years of playing together (fifteen years with Ethan Filner as violist), the Cypress String Quartet, composed of Cecily Ward and Tom Stone on violin, Jennifer Kloetzel on cello, and Ethan Filner on viola), is now disbanding to allow each member to pursue other musical endeavors. During their twenty-year run, the San Francisco-based Cypress Quartet has made many recordings, including the complete Beethoven String Quartets, and has been internationally recognized as one of the very best string quartets in the world. They have also carried out an extensive outreach program to bring classical music into classrooms at all levels, from inner city elementary schools in San Jose to high schools and universities throughout the Bay Area. The Cypress Quartet also spent two full weeks in May of this year performing the complete Beethoven String Quartets in a free series of public concerts at outdoor venues throughout all neighborhoods of San Francisco. If they are now disbanding, we can only be grateful, not only for twenty years of wonderful music-making, but also for the way the Cypress Quartet has gone out with a bang, sharing with us all their joy in music-making. -more-

After performing separately on Thursday, June 9, as part of the Berkeley Festival & Exhibition, produced by the San Francisco Early Music Society, violinist Rachel Podger and keyboard artist Kristian Bezuidenhout teamed up on Saturday, June 11, for an all-Bach program. This time Bezuidenhout played harpsichord, and, as always, Podger played her 1739 Pezzolini baroque violin. Together, these two artists performed works by Johann Sebastian Bach, especially his Sonatas for Violin and Harpsichord. -more-

Czech composer Leoš Janáček’s opera Jenufa tells a simple story, one set in a Moravian farming village similar to the one where Janáček himself grew up; but it tells this tale in music of searing intensity. As a young composer Janáček traveled throughoutšŠMoravia, studying the folk songs and rhythms of speech among the villagers. From these early years of research, Janáček created a unique musical idiom that is quite different from the musical styles of his fellow Czech composers Antonin Dvořák and Bedřich Smetana. For the opera Jenufa, Janáček wrote the libretto himself based on a play, Jeji pastorkyna – literally, Her Stepdaughter, by Gabriela Preissová. The unnamed Her of the title refers to Kostelnička Buryjovka, sung here by the great Finnish soprano Karita Mattila; and her stepdaughter is Jenufa, sung here by up-and-coming Swedish soprano Malin Byström. Individually and together, Mattila and Bystrom sang resplendently. The third cast member noteworthy of our appreciation was tenor William Burden as Laca, the villager who competes for Jenufa’s love with his stepbrother, the handsome village rake, Števa, sung here by Scott Quinn. -more-

On Thursday evening, June 16, the San Francisco Opera held a gala concert celebrating the ten-year reign of David Gockley as General Director of the company. Gockley, who is retiring at the end of the current summer season, came to SF Opera in 2006 from Houston Grand Opera, where he spent 33 seasons as General Director.

During his long career, Gockley has commissioned no less than 45 new operas. -more-